Cardiff City Region’s Regional Transport Authority was updated on the progress in rolling out infrastructure for electric and low-emission vehicles earlier this week (pdf).
The headline figure is that the number of ultra-low emission vehicles in the 10 local authorities that make up the city region has more than trebled between 2020-2022 – increasing from 3,045 to 9,461. Of those, just under 6,000 vehicles are electric-only.
Despite this increase, ULEVs still only make up a fraction of all vehicles registered in the region – just 1.06%.
522 public charging places have been either commissioned or installed across the city region, with a further 200 awaiting approval. 50 of these are either set to be (or have been) installed in Bridgend.
Bridgend is top amongst the 10 local authorities for the number of sessions at the charging points (1,318) and is placed second for the number of users (273). Charging points at Hillsboro Place in Porthcawl and Maesteg multi-storey car park are amongst the most-used in the entire city region.
“Mixed response” to EV taxi pilot
Another key part of the city region’s EV strategy is a three-year pilot electric and hybrid taxi scheme. Under the programme, taxi drivers can “try before they buy”. 44 wheelchair-friendly EV taxis were provided as part of the programme, but feedback is mixed.
Some of the positives include: ease of charging vehicles, mainly positive or very positive passenger feedback and a narrow majority saying they would recommend the trial to other taxi drivers.
The negative feedback includes: poor vehicle range, lack of public charging infrastructure, a majority saying they would be unable to install a home charger and the biggest barrier to switching to an EV being the price of the vehicle.
The elderly were also said to have struggled to get in and out of the vehicles, with additional comments that the wrong vehicle model was chosen for the pilot rather than there being a problem with EVs themselves.
